Lightning-arrester.



L. S. BEACH. LIGHTNING ARRESTER. APPLICATION men APR. 3. 1911.

Patented Feb. 8, 1916;

STATES PATENT ousion.

specification of A gpli cation filled com maze comer m:

'3 known thet 1, Leo S BEACH, resict origin the county cl New York WState o- 1W York, have invented oer and. useful improvements in Light-Jrrestors, of which the following is a.

n relates to lightning; ei'rest- I 1 lo ecle gtecl for use wits. tole- Agraph lines.

oob ects of the invention is to and. improves. illTBStQZ', such setafter unusual clis- 'roun clecl. 1S so combine in a lighthigh resistanceinsulating r gap, whereby the former 1e, so i it static discharges'iotentiol will he discharged the h. resistance materiel and 'Wnerebyunusual our 'i'iel passing over the to ground across the rehy protectingthe line from otcnti l preventing the dis Iitegration of the high memberint cposecl begrouiui. he in port obvious, and

hereinafter.

c 119 or: pointecl out he invention accordingly consists in the 'fcsnies of construction, combinations of nests and rrsng'ements of parts,which niiecl in the construction here ascribed, and. the scope of the ani etion fiich will be indicated in the 4n the cccoinpenying drawings,wherein hove illust merely preferred form embodiment 9;. my inventionthe figure "'rtcs such embodiment clin remmatc to this drewing, whereinirpoint insulator, the suitable hose member hinrling posts 2 and 3 ofone seal the binding posts e116. mother line connection. is indicateshinrlino; no loads a wire 7 to the ground he noted is common tonections. rtenrlerl between the binrling posts 2' 11 wire 10, whichincludes a illustretcrl diagrammatically at 11, and

N3 7 extended hctv rcn the bind ng posts 4 marl st from which rewritingthe line from 8, which it will both of the line con- Letter Pa enPetonteil Feb. 8, 1916,

April 3, 1911. Serial No. 618,569.

is a wire 12, which i clucles e similarly shown fuse 13. These fuses mayof course he of any opproveri construction,

Leading from the Wire intermecliete its ends is e Wire 1 1- Whichconnects with the plate 15, between which anal the opposed plate 16 isinterposed a member 1'? formed of high resistance material This highresistence material may consist of e cerhorun cl'urn, silicon, or carboncomposition held in suitable high resistance cinder, end of course inelectrical connection with the plates and 16, said plates being formed.of e conducting material, and Wire 18 leads from the plate 16 to 3V -ire19 which con-- nects with the binding post Leading from the wire 1intermerliate ends is :1 Wire 26, the some connecting with a plate 21,similar in all respects to plate 15 encl between this plate and osimilar plate 22, is a resistance materiel plate 22 being connected bymeans of Wire 52% with the common Wire 1% Plates 15 and 1f'3, in thepresent instance, are provided "with. opposed points 25 anti 26, whichextend toward each other but terj inete short of contact so as to forman gap thercbetwcen. Similarly, the plates 21 end 22 are provided withthe contact points and 28, between which is formed on air All of theplates 15, i6, enol 21, 22, may be readily bent, or otherwise menipmletecl to ecliust the points 25, 25, end 2?, 28, farther apart or closertogctl'ier, so as to determine the amount of voltageet which the air gapwill creek down. I

Having thus described the construction of this embodiment of .rnyinvention, the operation thereof may now he umlerstoml. By reason of theprovision of the high resistmice materiel hetvveen the line and grounci,relatively small static discharges coming over the line are taken careof without are ing; since such discharges will pass through the highresistance material in or :l cience to the air gap. Therefore, sincethere is no arc, there is no'tenclency for particles of carbon or othermaterial to hecorne clielodged and form apermanent connection betweenthe line and grounil However" when unusual discharges of relatively highpotential are discharged between the line and ground, such dischargeswill take place through the air gap provided between the opposeclcontact points 25, 26 and 27, 28 lmvino' the hil 'li resistance materialintact,

and thereby insuring against a permanent ground connection between theline and ground. lt Will accordingly be seen that l. have pronded meansWl'uch While fully protecting the line against discharges of is belittle likely to become'disarraiiged, and which wil require a minimumexercise care and attention, and at the same time is of a very simpleconstruction.

its many c ges could be made in the above con ruction and manyapparently widely different embodiments of this invendon could be made"Without de 'iartiug from he Sci/D6 thereof, it intended that'all mattercontained in the above description sh mi in the accompanying drawingshall be interpreted illustrative and. not i limiting sense. lit is alsoto be underu stood that the language used in the folloW- ins: claim' isintended to cover all of the eneric and specific features of theinvention which as amatter of language, might be said tofalltherebetween.

Having thus described my inrentiom whet claim as new and desire tosecure by Let ters l atcnt is:

1. lo a lightning: arrester, the combination with a line and groundconnection therefor, oi? a member of relatively low con- :y interposedbetween said line'and ground, and spaced. conductors providing an gap inmultiple with said low conher high or low potential will, nevertheducting member, said spaced conductors comprising a pair of members atleast one of which is bendable whereby to adjust the degree of theresistance offered by the air gap and consequently for varying themaximum load to be placed upon the interposed low conducting member.

2. In a lightning arrester the combinzu tion with a line and a groundconnection therefor, of a block of material of relatively lOWconductivity interposed between said line and ground having oppositelydisposer substantially parallel faces, a pair of "Jlates of conductingmaterial, one engaging each of said faces and having" parts extendingsubstantially straight therefrom so that their outer ends are spacedapart to provide an air gap in multiple with said interposed block ofmaterial, and at least one of said plates being bendable whereby theouter ends of said olates may be moved to Ward or away from each otherfor varying the resistance ofiered by the air and consequently forvarying the maximum load to be placed upon the interposed block ofmaterial.

In testimony whereof I have affiized my signature in the presence of twoNil/DQ515553 :eeou s. BEACH.

Witnesses S. Homssesee, NARHALIE THOMPSON,

